The Pisan unit of EBB is composed of two members, Roberta Ferrari (Full Professor of English Literature) and Paolo Bugliani (Assistant Professor of English Literature), from the Department of Philology, Literature and Linguistics of Pisa University.
Their research interests in the essay as a genre have so far focused on the theory of the essay (namely on issues of voice, perspective, and characterization) and on the history of the genre in England and Europe. Moreover, they have promoted the teaching of the essay at BA and Master level by devising syllabuses in which a canon of English essayists finds a relevant place.
The EBB workshop organized by the Pisan Unit in autumn 2025 will be inserted within the framework of the 2023-2027 Excellence Project of the Department of Philology, Literature and Linguistics, CECIL – Excellence Centre for Countering Language Impoverishment. The workshop will be aimed at university students and limited to no more than 15 participants. Consisting in 2-hour sessions held twice a week from September to December 2025, the workshop will focus on the theory and practice of essayistic writing, aiming to raise the students’ interest in creative nonfiction in general, as well as to practice the essay as a tool to enhance writing skills.
Pisa will also host the 2026 Easter Summer School The Essay and the Planetary, which will be held at the Centro Congressuale Le Benedettine (Piazza San Paolo a Ripa d’Arno, 16). The Easter School will bring together researchers, students, and writers to discuss and exchange knowledge about the essay and to practice writing it as a genre. The central theme will be the Planetary Essay, which will allow to explore the ways in which the genre can be a tool for the raising of awareness and the dissemination of knowledge about the environment, and to promote the use of the essay as a form of civic engagement. The Easter School thus aims at foregrounding a new way of thinking about the essay by bringing ecocritical and environmental concerns in dialogue with the essay.
The Easter School will offer both lectures/seminars to share research and writing workshops of various kinds delivered and attended by participants from all over Europe and possibly beyond.
